Quaranta and the Injuries

Just got off the phone with DCU midfielder-forward Santino Quaranta, who has returned home from the Charleston tournament after suffering a hamstring injury in Saturday's Carolina Challenge Cup opener against Real Salt Lake. He said he thinks he'll be sidelined a few weeks.

Quaranta was en route to the team doctor's office in Arlington for further evaluation. He was also serving as a deliveryman: He not only had his own DVD-type images from his MRI test administered in Charleston, he was also carrying those taken of teammates Louis Crayton (hip flexor) and Fred (hamstring).

Of the three, Santino believed on Saturday that he had the least-serious injury, but then the next day he was the most sore.

"Fred and I put so much emphasis on strengthening our hamstrings during the offseason and the preseason because we had problems last year," he said. "We really worked on it, so that's why it's so frustrating. I don't understand it. This was the best I felt in a long time."

United hopes to learn more about the players' long-term outlooks in the next couple days.

"Fred and I put so much emphasis on strengthening our hamstrings during the offseason and the preseason because we had problems last year,"...

Therein lies the problem? Who's got stronger hamstrings than sprinters? And, who has more hamstring problems than sprinters? There is such a thing as overtraining, especially, if four goal is healthy hamstring. Flexibility program is a key piece. Might sacrifice some strength and explosiveness, but...I'd suggest regular hot yoga classes...

"In touch with the ground
I'm on the hunt I'm after you
Smell like I sound, I'm lost in a crowd
And I'm hungry like the wolf
Straddle the line, in discord and rhyme
I'm on the hunt I'm after you
Mouth is alive with juices like wine
And I'm hungry like the wolf..."

I agree with Fischy that strengthening is not necessarily what is needed. I'm sure they've got experts directing their off-season workouts, but if they're not stretching several times a day to improve flexibility, then strengthening will actually reduce it. A strong hammy is no good if you can't stretch it out when needed. When you do stretch it and it tears, you're doing something wrong.

There are a lot of things that cause hamstring injuries. Overtraining seems like a big possibility, given Tino's quote on focusing on it. It could also be weak core muscles, since there is a crucial interplay between the two. Quaranta has said his offseason fitness program was similar to a boxer's, though, which should have given him core strength. It could also be a lack of flexibility. eadc brings up Preki, who did indeed prolong his career through a yoga regimen.

Crayton hasn't trained much due to his shoulder, so playing a match at a decent intensity always ran the risk for a strain of some kind. Fred and Quaranta may well have the opposite problem, in that they've overdone it and their hamstrings are not getting time to heal. I know the popular thing to do is foam at the mouth when the training staff comes up, but there is the possibility that the groundwork for these injuries was set when the players were in their offseason.